"When Universes Collide: A Star Wars Fan Fiction--COMPILATION” Read online

  Chapter Two

  CHICAGO, Just Outside of Downtown; an old train-way...

  It had been two weeks since Jacob Millstine's personal world was invaded by the two alien, social orders known as the Jedi and the Sith. But far more importantly, not just his personal world but planet Earth, itself, had already been invaded! Even though Jacob's new-found teacher in the Jedi arts, Salvitor, had been imparting the history of both Force-societies, Jacob was still not sure where this, 'The Galaxy,' was!

  Jacob did take an astronomy course in high school, so he remembered that, officially, the Andromeda Galaxy was the closest galaxy to the Milky Way system. Jacob assumed that's where both Orders had originated from. But during one of the days that Jacob spent showing Jedi Salvitor around the city of Chicago, they stopped at an observatory and discussed where both Societies came from. When they looked at a high-tech, three-dimensional map of the Milky Way and the fifty-three other galaxies that were nearby--in astronomical terms, Jacob noticed that the Jedi pointed to a splotch of a galaxy that was much farther out from where Andromeda was! Yet, it was one of the other fifty-three galaxies within the Milky Way's own Local Group. A mystery, indeed, how a strain of Homo sapiens sapiens could come from an entirely different galaxy that was so far away, and, yet, have the exact same species-traits as the sapiens on planet Earth. At least, as far as Jacob could tell. Indeed, perhaps Earthen sapiens were the ones who were a variation of Salvitor's ancestors...?

  As for Jacob, he was continuing his early stages of training in the Jedi arts! For the past two weeks he and Salvitor had been using the old railway for his practice. The run-down, almost-monumental structures a few miles from downtown Chicago were perfect for Jacob to swing around Salvitor's laser-sword outside without being seen by others. Since that public duel that Jedi Salvitor had with Darth Harest, the young female Sith who tried to recruit Jacob to the Sith side a couple of weeks ago, there were a myriad of newscast of the saber-fight! Those by-standers who were recording the duel that night with their smartphones had outed the Jedi and the Sith, and now major television broadcasters and other media venues had reports on that battle. Therefore, making Jedi Salvitor a fugitive of the city of Chicago, just as Darth Harest was.

  Jacob was beginning to see why both Jedi and Sith always wore a hoodie of some kind...

  After the long train finally passed by the old, small train stop, Jacob resumed wielding Salvitor's laser-sword as he ignited the slender, light-blue energy-sword with a sudden snapping sound; the unmistakable hum emanating from the light-blade.

  Much the same way that Darth Harest had done to Jacob when they first met, Jedi Salvitor was using his Force-powers to aggressively hurl objects at Jacob. From pebbles to large appliances that seemed to no longer function in the small trainport. Jacob was already at the point of using his Force-push to throw back many of these objects either toward the Jedi, or simply slap them away with the invisible wave of the Force, while maneuvering his sword and body around to face the next obstacle. From time to time, he would also miss and would get pelted to the concrete. Sometimes Salvitor would laugh. But usually he was patient with the budding Jedi.

  "And remember," Jedi Salvitor lightly put to Jacob as he closed down the Force-sword, "we call it a Lightsaber."

  Jacob had been training for a couple of hours or so, and it was time to take a break. He handed the ornate hilt to his teacher, anterior end downward, should the blade accidentally ignite! One of the many etiquettes Jacob was, yet, learning.

  "Traditions are important in the ways of the Jedi," Salvitor finished as he clamped the hilt to a hidden hook on his belt and took a seat next to Jacob on an old, stone bench that was cracked all over.

  The middle-aged man was over six-feet tall and had shoulder-length hair and a beard full enough to fill his face, yet was not so long. Salvitor wore one of his light-colored schemes again--beige and white. The cowl to his hoodie was always down when it was only Jacob in his presence. Whom had now taken up the practice of wearing clothing that was light in the palette. Jacob had even let a week's worth of a beard began to grow on his youthful face and was letting his hair grow out..when his family asked about his change in physical apperance upon one of his family visits, Jacob vaguely told them that he had joined a "church" that was more traditional and that he would be wearing more light-colored clothing as a result of that. His mother, brother, and sister did not pursue it much further than that. Though, Jacob knew at some point he would have to expound a bit more to his family not only the changes in his life, but the seemingly super-powers he always had since probably birth. But that would be much later down the road.

  "So, when do I get to meet more of the Jedi," Jacob asked Salvitor after a long silence of both of them sitting on the bench.

  "Well, Jacob, it'll depend on the others' schedule, frankly. As I said to you earlier, we're all working on recruiting latent-Forcers throughout your planet! Compared to some of the planets in our Galaxy, Earth would be considered medium-sized--as far as the dominate species of Humans is concerned. Sometimes we Jedi will go months without even seeing one another! So..."

  Salvitor shrugged. Jacob got the point. Still tired from his long practice, Jacob wanted to take advantage of the quiet time.

  "You know, Jedi Salvitor, going to that observatory and finally getting an idea of where you--the Jedi, and the Sith came from, it got me thinking about some big picture stuff."

  Salvitor chuckled. It was the informal way that Jacob, and indeed, the greater American culutre that he lived in, talked.

  "Oh, yeah? What kind of stuff?"

  Jacob looked at the older man with a rebuking, yet playful, face. "Don't even try to talk like us. It doesn't fit you; trust me..." He shrugged. "I mean stuff like, you must have some hell of a technology for your Order to fly over to Earth from that Galaxy of yours! What do you have; FTL-tech?" The Jedi looked upon Jacob with a questioning face. "Faster Than Light technology."

  Salvitor flinched with understanding. "Ahh...yes, or pretty similar to it. I have to admit to you, Jacob, just because I'm a Jedi that does not mean I know or understand everything. My understanding is our Hyperdrive technology is a bit faster than the speed of light. But not by much."

  "So how long did it take you and the rest of your Order to get to Earth?"

  Again, Salvitor chuckled. "Jacob, the Jedi and Sith technologies are very advanced--especially when compared to Earthen-technology. But we're not that fast...remember our discussion back at the planetarium? That it would take light over two-million years just to reach your Andromeda system from Earth? Well, I showed you where our Galaxy is in relation to Earth; remember?"

  Jacob nodded. His turn to chuckle. "Yeah...far, far away from Earth, that's for sure!"

  "Indeed! In the order of tens of millions of years for light to reach our Galaxy from Earth! So, my Order had to use what we call our Super-Dreadnaught class starships."

  "Wow, they're so fast that it cuts the time down to reach distant galaxies," Jacob asked with enthusiasm.

  "Well, partially. But even then, it still would take light millions of years to reach Earth from my Galaxy..." Jedi Salvitor shifted on the old bench; now using his hands to illustrate a bit more. "They are generational-ships, Jacob."

  Salvitor thought he would have to explain the concept to the young Earthen, but Jacob's face indicated that he knew exactly what the Supre-Dreadnaughts were. Indeed, Salvitor could see that Jacob was doing the math in his head--his eyes darting off to another place while his mouth whispered the figures in his head.

  "...so...that would mean..." Jacob looked at Jedi Salvitor with the most incredulous, almost-frightened, look he'd ever seen the young man give. "That's impossible! No ship can last millions of years; I don't care how advanced a society is!"

  The Jedi shrugged. "I don't
know what else to tell you, my friend. It is the truth...remember, you are used to dealing with the Force as one person. Now, there are likely a few million on this planet with a high-level of Force-sensitivity. But in my Galaxy, for reasons that I admit I do not understand, those midi-chlorians I told you about before; they seem to be more imbued in my Galaxy!

  "So far, I've noticed that it seems like it's only the Human species that is Force-sensitive on Earth; no other species! My Galaxy, there are many other species that are strong in the Force...anyway, with such Force-strength in my Galaxy, it seemed to augment our technological abilities. That, plus certain elements on some of our planets were conducive to the right metalic materials it took to construct such strong starships."

  "So..." Jacob now stood and then began to pace; the mere scale of Salvitor's history bathing him in awe! "Your Order, the Sith...you've all been traveling through space for, literally, millions of years?"

  Salvitor was beginning to get uncomfortable with the conversation. For Jacob's Force-sensitivity had, apparently, made him able to catch on to things quicker than others on Earth. And that meant more questions...

  "Yes...our Dreadnaughts had been transiting interstellar space for millions of years."

  Silence from Jacob. He then slowly turned to face his Jedi teacher.

  "Salvitor, you realize that anthropologists on Earth say that the Human species has only been around on this planet for something like three-hundred thousand years...not even half a million years!"

  "Yes, I've read several articles on your Internet about such things. That, and those documentaries on those televisions."

  "Then--if your civilization has been traveling for millions of years just to get to Earth in generational ships--"

  "How did my Galaxy's version of Homo sapiens develop there and the Milky Way's version develop on Earth at such different times?"

  Both men, now, stared at each other. Even the mighty Jedi looked puzzled at that point, Jacob noticed.

  "Trust me, Jacob, the Order discussed that issue for many years and we still don't--"

  "Wait...discussed how old Humans are on Earth for years?"

  And here it comes, Salvitor thought to himself.

  "Jedi Salvitor," Jacob said with a formality that denoted to Salvitor that he needed to be straight with the young Earthen, "how long have the Jedi and the Sith been on planet Earth?"

  Salvitor sighed, and he, too, got up from the bench; looking at downtown Chicago from that old train stop. Sunlight was still shining in the afternoon; forcing him to squint.

  "The Dreadnaught I was born on is so big, Jacob, that it's basically one of Earth's medium-sized city within a starship...even now, some Jedi have not set foot on Earth! I've only been here a few years, after I received my mission to come and recruit Forcers in this region of North America."

  "Wow! So, then, your gigantic ships are still around somewhere!" Jacob was having visions of a trip to the Dreadnaught, Salvitor could see.

  "Actually, it's only one, Jacob." The Earthen's head snapped in the Jedi's direction. "It's always been one. At least, in this solar system. The history of how and why my Order left our home-galaxy is so ancient, that even among our precise Jedi library it gets muddled in the details...something about some long ago-defunct Empire that was relatively short-lived and was replaced with a Republic system that we still, mostly, have today..."

  The Jedi shrugged. "Accounts by some Jedi that are even older than I am, say that something horrendously bad happened in our home-galaxy and the Jedi had to quickly find a way out of our Galaxy. None of the Jedi know what that event was...Several Super-Dreadnaught class ships were launched, most of them going to different nearby galaxies; some, to far away galaxies."

  "And your ship was one of the generational ships that went far and away from your home-galaxy," Jacob summarized, his head also nodding; finally getting some of the answers he'd been wanting to hear for two weeks.

  "Indeed," Salvitor said quietly with another nod. This time when he looked away toward downtown Chicago, his tone was more menacing. "So many eons had passed in the travels of my Order's Dreadnaught, that, somehow, a Sith movement had emerged from within the ranks of the Jedi aboard the starship! As big as Super-Dreadnaughts are, Jacob, they're a small place to be when the population within that ship has turned against one another! Anyway, some believe it was because the Force has the tendency to bring 'balance' to the universe. Some Jedi aren't so sure of this, Jacob.

  "For several millennia, war was fought within our Order's Dreadnaught between the Jedi and the resurrected Order of the Sith."

  Jacob gave a face of thought. "If there were all these wars going on within your generational ship, Jedi Salvitor, wouldn't your ship had been in danger of imploding in space from all the fighting, or going off course, or something?"

  Jacob noitced how Salvitor froze upon his last guess. Jacob did a slight gasp. He slowly walked up to his teacher; Jacob's head tilted in thought.

  "Your Order and the Sith are in my solar system because your Dreadnaught crash landed, didn't it?"

  A slight smile from Jedi Salvitor creased. "Your Jedi abilities serve you well, Jacob."

  "Well, some would say it's more about thinking things through...so, where is it?"

  Salvitor had been mostly looking at the Chicago skyline for the past minute. He turned his attention to his pupil. "Where's what?"

  "The ship, Captain Jack Sparrow!" The Jedi frowned for the lost reference. "Local joke...where is the Dreadnaught, now, Master?"

  Salvitor's turn to cock his head inquisitively. "In the ancient times of the Jedi Order, the pupil would call the teacher, Master. It's the first time you've called me that...I think I rather like it!"

  "Fair enough. Master, you're stalling, and I don't need the Force to see that!"

  A chuckle from Salvitor, as the middle-aged Jedi became more animated. Whenever he thought deeply on the history of his Order's trek, his mood would always become glum. "I'm sorry, my apprentice. But that is something the Order agreed to keep secret from all of Earth. It's bad enough that many of this planet's citizens have spotted some of our scoutships--imagine what would happen on Earth if they were to see the Dreadnaught!"

  Once again, the Jedi had surprised the young Earthen. Jacob's eyes were wide open. "You're talking about all the UFO-sightings! So, that was the Order all those times?"

  "Not every sighting, apprentice," Salvitor said as he gathered his duffle bag and placed his water and a couple of other things into it; getting ready to leave the rustic station. "And certainly not the Jedi all the time. Every since the 1950s, the Order has noticed that the Sith have been extra busy with their scouting missions on Earth! We suspect with the advent of Earth-powers' space technologies, it caught the eyes of the Sith...we strongly believe it's one of the reasons why the Sith decided to start recruiting Earthen humans that were latent-Forcers!"

  They were both now walking away from the small station and toward Jacob's car, which was parked several yards away. They got into the early-nineties vehicle and drove off; done with Jedi business for the day.